SAS Nagar: Here, stations resemble parking lots, cloak rooms

The police stations here are like parking spaces with cars and bikes, which were seized as property in cases that are many years old, abandoned on the premises. The interiors brought no relief either as offices were cluttered with dusty documents wrapped in clothes.

The police stations here are like parking spaces with cars and bikes, which were seized as property in cases that are many years old, abandoned on the premises.

The interiors brought no relief either as offices were cluttered with dusty documents wrapped in clothes.

At the Mataur police station, apart from old documents occupying the common room of investigating officers, night clothes and undergarments were also left hanging on the walls of the room where the duty officer registered people’s complaints.

At the Phase-8 police station too, the parking area was dominated by impounded vehicles, which have been spotted there for many years now. Dense wild growth sprouted all around them.

An assistant sub-inspector of the Phase-8 station, on condition of anonymity, said they had recently spotted a snake on a tree. He said the snake had made its home in the dense growth around the vehicles. Ever since, cops avoid going near the bushes, he added.

While there were dustbins in the SHOs’ offices, there were no bins in corridors. The newly constructed toilets at the Sohana and Phase-1 stations were clean. They were built after the senior superintendent of police sanctioned a special grant for the purpose. However, the ones at Mataur and Phase 8 were not up to the mark. Suwidha centres, introduced newly at the police stations, were well maintained.

A cop disclosed that the government didn’t allot funds for sweepers’ salary. The cops paid them every month, he said.